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In New Orleans, a Coach with a Steady Hand

In the first installment of its “Real Training Camp” series, NBA TV traveled to New Orleans, where the Hornets aim to forge a fresh identity in the still choppy wake of Chris Paul’s departure.

After 10 or so minutes of light warm-up drills, player interviews and sideline commentary, a miked Monty Williams – now beginning his third year as the Hornets’ head coach – gathered his troops at center court for the day’s marching orders. For most coaches faced with a media presence, moments like these mark the time for clichéd overtures and motivational platitudes.

But Williams isn’t most coaches.

“How many of you guys watched the debate last night?” Williams asked right off the bat, speaking of the presidential debate.

Not exactly your standard-issue training camp salvo.

Silence.

“I don’t want to get off on a political tangent, but try to be aware of what’s happening around you,” Williams said. “The climate is changing. It’s not like it was when I was coming up – and I didn’t know it then – but things are changing, and it affects this group for sure.”

“How many of you guys are involved in the union?” Williams said next.

More silence.

“You guys need to be more aware of that,” he said. “When I came into the league as a rookie, I signed a four-year contract – and could’ve signed a five-year contract. Eric Montross signed an 11-year contract.”

Williams continued for another few minutes, discussing the new N.B.A. world of shortened contracts and fewer career guarantees. He made sure the team had selected its union representative (forward Jason Smith). He reminded them that the union vice president and recently acquired guard Roger Mason Jr. was there to answer any questions. He implored them time and again to pay attention to what was happening around them.

Great simple read. And from the New York Times to boot. Nice to see us standing out to other folks

Agreed. Interesting to hear another person comment on just how committed Williams is in making his players better on and off the court. We truly have a special head coach.

"I'm not going to allow my putative owner to answer that question, this is an NBA related press conference. Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell have collectively sung their praises of Tom and if uh ESPN has a problem with that tell Mr. Skipper to call me at my office."

What metric are they using that put them 15th? Points per possession? I would think points or effective fg % would be the main measures for team defense.

They were also tied for 7th in points allowed, not 8th.

Since they mentioned offensive efficiency in the same or preceding sentence, I assume they are talking about defensive efficiency. Points allowed is not a very good metric as others because it does not take into account pace. eFG% is better but defensive efficiency is probably the best to use for this large of a sample size.

Since they mentioned offensive efficiency in the same or preceding sentence, I assume they are talking about defensive efficiency. Points allowed is not a very good metric as others because it does not take into account pace. eFG% is better but defensive efficiency is probably the best to use for this large of a sample size.

Also, I enjoyed this article so thanks for posting it!

I'll have to disagree about pace. Even slow teams have to pick it up when playing a fast paced team (at least thats what I've observed) that gets up extra buckets, so over an 82 game season I think that washes out. Thanks for pointing out the def. efficiency number. Turns out they were 16th in that.

No, there are definitely different number of possessions between teams. It really is a thing and doesn't balance out from the schedule. Last season, the Kings were first in pace using 97.3 possessions per game with the Hornets last at 90.7. Sacramento had 9.3% more possessions last season. It is a not insignificant number which does affect counting stats like points per game.